The Books Is Dead, Pt. 2

As I mentioned earlier, I’m giving a
talk on Thursday in Columbus on the end of the printed book. Here’s a
brief preview:

The subject of the end of the printed
book, presaged by the Amazon Kindle and the Sony eBook, is often
accompanied by an analogy to the replacement of vinyl records with
CDs and now MP3s. This is not a useful comparison, except in that MP3s and
e-books are both digital media.

A book is not like a wax cylinder,
however.

Recorded music is a new technology.
Music playback devices are just over 100 years old, and they have
evolved constantly and rapidly during that time. No one from even
twenty years ago would recognize this device as a replacement for the
LP or CD.

Yet most contemporary readers would recognize this as a book, although it dates from the Middle Ages.

Books are a very mature technology, and therefore hard to replace. But not impossible.

It would be nice to take some solace in the fact that electronic books are far inferior to printed books, yet the history of the book shows that we (readers) have always chosen cheap and convenient alternatives.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm giving a
talk on Thursday in Columbus on the end of the printed book. Here's a
brief preview:

The subject of the end of the printed
book, presaged by the Amazon Kindle and the Sony eBook, is often
accompanied by an analogy to the replacement of vinyl records with
CDs and now MP3s. This is not a useful comparison, except in that MP3s and
e-books are both digital media.

A book is not like a wax cylinder,
however.

Recorded music is a new technology.
Music playback devices are just over 100 years old, and they have
evolved constantly and rapidly during that time. No one from even
twenty years ago would recognize this device as a replacement for the
LP or CD.

Yet most contemporary readers would recognize this as a book, although it dates from the Middle Ages.

Books are a very mature technology, and therefore hard to replace. But not impossible.

It would be nice to take some solace in the fact that electronic books are far inferior to printed books, yet the history of the book shows that we (readers) have always chosen cheap and convenient alternatives.